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The South Korean financial giant says its Korbit – soon to be rebranded as Digital X – is just the starting point for a broader ecosystem that connects RWAs, stablecoins and digital assets.
A proposed class action lawsuit was filed against BitMEX in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging the platform engaged in fraudulent practices related to liquidations, resulting in the loss of approximately 622.66 Bitcoin for the plaintiffs, BKX Services Inc. and David Namdar. The plaintiffs claim that BitMEX’s internal trading desk had access to private customer information and could continue trading during server freezes, allegedly profiting from forced liquidations by placing remaining Bitcoin into the platform’s insurance fund. The lawsuit coincides with BitMEX’s announcement that it will cease operations on September 23, following a strategic review by its owner, HDR Global Trading, and a significant drop in its BMEX token value. BitMEX responded to the allegations by stating that such claims are opportunistic and have been successfully addressed in the past.
The Magnificent Seven had their worst day since April 2025 after Alphabet and Tesla spooked investors on AI spending. Bitcoin fell less than 1%, and dogecoin led the majors lower.
Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego criticized the Senate Republicans' proposed text for the CLARITY Act, specifically calling the ethics provisions "not a serious effort" and stating that he would work with other Republicans on a counterproposal. The CLARITY Act's draft includes language that would bar all U.S. federal officials, including President Donald Trump, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, but Democrats have argued that the ethics provisions are insufficient. Senate Republicans have defended the proposal, with Senator Bernie Moreno describing it as containing "the most powerful ethics language in US history." Gallego indicated that the draft was a result of misinterpretation of prior work and that efforts to improve it are ongoing.
BitMEX removed 65 derivative contracts and trading pairs in July, an increase from the 19 delistings during the first half of the year, due to "insufficient trading interest" and its broader decision to wind down the exchange. The platform delisted 21 derivative contracts in early July, followed by nine spot pairs two weeks later, and added another 35 derivative contracts for delisting later in the month. The exchange announced that it will cease services on September 23, 2026, after a “strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry,” without providing specific reasons. Roshan Dharia, a restructuring adviser, commented that the exchange’s decline reflects structural pressures faced by mid-sized centralized exchanges, including concentrated liquidity among major players and increasing regulatory compliance costs.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a public roundtable on September 17 in Washington, DC, to discuss the possibility of moving toward 24-hour trading in US equity markets, with SEC Chair Paul Atkins noting that the market is “moving towards a new day – and night.” The discussions will focus on preparations to support overnight trading, operations, and market resiliency. This development aligns with global trends, as exchanges like the London Stock Exchange plan to launch a night-time trading venue in early 2027, and Nasdaq has begun engaging with regulators about offering 24-hour trading five days a week, potentially starting in the second half of 2026.
Gemini transferred over $10 million in Bitcoin to the MAGA Inc. Super PAC supporting Donald Trump, according to a report filed with the FEC. The contributions, made in two transactions on June 19, are linked to a legal case where the CFTC and Gemini are seeking to reverse a $5 million settlement over alleged false statements. The donation can be used by the PAC for independent expenditures supporting Trump, who has also received donations from Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. The court has not yet made a decision on the case, and there has been no public update on the status of the settlement reversal.
Coinbase is expanding its AI finance initiatives by allowing businesses to accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents through the x402 payment standard, which it introduced in May 2025 for stablecoin payments over HTTP. The company also announced AI trading tools that enable users to monitor orders, access live market data, and execute actions based on predefined conditions, along with a software development kit for building agent-powered applications. Coinbase states that these products are aimed at supporting the “agentic economy,” where AI agents can handle payments and manage finances on behalf of users. The company noted that adoption of AI agents is increasing, with agent-generated traffic surpassing human traffic on its Base documentation pages last month.
The deadline to get the crypto market structure bill done before senators scatter will likely be missed, says Majority Leader Thune, though it may get a start before then.
Research from the National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA), backed by Ripple Labs, estimates that the crypto industry contributed $55 billion to the US economy in 2023 through salaries, worker spending, and output, including direct, indirect, and induced employment. The report states that around 34,000 people are directly employed by crypto companies in the US, which supports a total of approximately 232,000 jobs across the broader economy, surpassing employment in some sectors like coffee and aerospace. States such as Texas, Washington, North Carolina, California, and New York have the highest employment in the industry, with Colorado noted as a growing blockchain hub and North Dakota as a developing energy-integrated digital infrastructure hub due to favorable policies. The NCA was launched in March 2025 with $50 million backing from Ripple and focused on consumer crypto education, but several crypto projects, including Entropy and Dmail, announced shutdowns in 2026 for reasons related to market conditions and operational expenses.
The closure of BitMEX, a major crypto derivatives exchange, is raising concerns about increasing industry consolidation, with analysts noting the concentration of market share among the top five platforms, which now control around 80% of global spot volume (Cointelegraph). Since May 2021, BitMEX's daily Bitcoin futures volume has declined and its utility token, BMEX, dropped over 90% following news of its shutdown, which is scheduled for September 23. The decline reflects broader structural pressures faced by mid-sized exchanges, including rising regulatory costs and shrinking margins, as market share shifts to larger players (Cointelegraph). Meanwhile, regulated competitors in the US and UK, such as Coinbase and Kraken, are expanding their derivatives offerings under new regulatory frameworks.
The post, now deleted, touted a token called $VLAD and falsely claimed it would be listed on Robinhood.
The former Signet developer aims to launch early next year a marketplace connecting stablecoin issuers with regional lenders to manage reserves.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev's X account was reportedly hacked, leading to the promotion of a fake memecoin called "VLAD" with a malicious token contract address, which gained over 175,000 views before being identified as a scam and removed. Onchain data indicates that the hackers exploited about 650 Ether, valued between $1.2 million and $1.3 million, with one wallet linked to the hacker group purchasing 47.2 million VLAD tokens and potentially making an unrealized profit of approximately $159,000. Robinhood confirmed the account compromise and stated that they are working with X to restore access. The incident highlights ongoing issues with hacks and scams in the crypto industry.
David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, expressed support for the “not perfect” CLARITY Act, which is currently under consideration in the US Senate, stating that it aims to create a level playing field and enhance market stability, despite ongoing disagreements over provisions related to stablecoins. Solomon’s backing is notable as he stands out among traditional financial leaders, with others like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase criticizing certain aspects of the bill, such as stablecoin interest payments. The bill faces opposition from many Democrats, who argue that the ethics rules are insufficient and that enforcement should involve state authorities rather than the US Justice Department, with some critics claiming it favors crypto profits and lacks investor protections. A vote in the Senate is anticipated soon, but support from Democratic senators is uncertain.
Rolling out this week, Coinbase Business users will be able to accept payments from AI agents, done via the x402 protocol, developed and incubated by the exchange.
Empery Digital invested $20 million in Cardinal Data Power, acquiring around an 8% stake as part of Cardinal's approximately $70 million Series A financing, which will support the development of a 750-megawatt data center campus in West Texas expected to deliver its first power in 2027 and expand to over 5 gigawatts by 2029. The investment marks Empery's shift toward AI infrastructure, moving away from its previous Bitcoin treasury strategy, which involved selling roughly $87.1 million worth of Bitcoin over two months and reducing its holdings to 1,514 BTC from as many as 4,081 BTC. The company’s motives include funding AI infrastructure and repaying debt amidst pressures from shareholders seeking a change in strategic direction. The broader landscape shows varying approaches among Bitcoin treasury firms, with some exiting and others restructuring or continuing to amass Bitcoin holdings.
According to CryptoQuant, Ether is trading roughly 17% below its realized price of approximately $2,300, which historically indicates market undervaluation and potential bottoming. Onchain indicators show signs of easing selling pressure, such as increased exchange outflows and a record 34% of ETH being staked, suggesting a tightening supply. Despite these positive signs, only two of CryptoQuant’s five bottoming indicators have reached historical reversal levels, indicating that Ethereum’s cycle bottom may still be forming. Meanwhile, ETH’s relative valuation to Bitcoin has improved, with its MVRV ratio falling from nearly 0.95 to around 0.65. The report notes that while some metrics are improving, key signals needed to confirm a market bottom remain unconfirmed.
A new court status report reveals the agency will pay a flat fee to resolve a two-year fight over what former Chair Gary Gensler knew about Ethereum.
The article reports that tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) exceeded $30 billion in 2026, with significant demand from asset managers, as a survey cited by RedStone’s founders indicates that 64% now want to tokenize, up from 40% the previous year. The mood at the TokenizeThis 2026 conference shifted from questioning the viability of on-chain assets to focusing on their practical applications and the remaining infrastructure gaps, including issues in distribution, compliance, and interoperability. Notably, tokenized collateral and repos are already being used, with Broadridge moving around $370 billion of tokenized repo daily, even though this is a small fraction of the overall market. Progress in regulatory frameworks is also evident, with the SEC issuing no-action letters and approving trading platforms for tokenized securities, although some uncertainties remain, especially regarding legal structures and market scope.
The framework, developed with Superstate, Securitize and Dowgo, lets regulated funds and securities trade on Uniswap while enforcing compliance rules necessary for institutions.
The Goldman Sachs CEO said the crypto market structure bill would create a more stable regulatory framework, breaking with other major bank leaders who oppose key stablecoin provisions.
Fears that AI-driven hacks could cause a widespread DeFi security crisis are currently considered overstated, with experts like Haseeb Qureshi and Stephen Ajayi noting that the rate and size of hacks have been declining or remain manageable, even after major incidents in April 2026. However, industry professionals acknowledge that AI is still early in its development as a tool for attackers and is increasing their efficiency, particularly by enabling the analysis of larger codebases and automating exploitation. While some data suggests that the most significant losses in 2026 come from traditional vulnerabilities such as compromised keys and infrastructure rather than AI-specific exploits, AI is amplifying existing attack methods and facilitating scams like impersonation and social engineering. Experts indicate that AI's role as an attacker or defender will depend on how effectively each side leverages the technology moving forward.
Binance has partnered with the nonprofit STOP THE TRAFFIK to enhance its efforts in detecting and investigating cryptocurrency activity related to human trafficking and child exploitation, according to Cointelegraph. The exchange will receive intelligence, training, and insights from the UK group's Centre for Intelligence-Led Prevention to improve its ability to identify criminal activities and strengthen investigations. The collaboration also involves intelligence sharing and staff training aimed at improving Binance's compliance and financial crime detection capabilities. A Chainalysis report cited by Cointelegraph states that cryptocurrency payments to suspected human trafficking syndicates increased by 85% in 2025, with hundreds of millions of transactions traced on public blockchains.
